Drawn to this, “finest” Version of the Hurricane because my daughter is also called Koel, (after the Indian Cuckoo bird), I acquired this very old (1968) kit by Monogram some years back.
Building was easy and quick and I decided to keep the flame dampers behind the exhausts and the rocket rails as both were used on almost all Hurricanes in IAF service.
No significance of the nose art is available except for the fact that this aircraft was flown by Air Cmde (retd) Ratnagar.
Standard SEAC paint scheme with full mainplane, fin and tailplane white ID bands with the Blue and sky roundels were used. Significant weathering and paint chipping were carried to reflect the harsh conditions of the Monsoons in the North East.
The IAF began receiving Hurricanes IIB/Cs as replacement to the Lysander, Hart and Vengeance in the second half of 1942. Primarily employed in the Tac R role they rapidly gained distinction as the “eyes of the 15 Army” in the desperate battles around Kohima and Imphal.
A pair led by then Sqn Ldr Arjan Singh, CO of No 1 Sqn IAF became famous as the “Arakan Twins”. The Hurricanes also carried out a large chunk of offensive ops against the Tamu rail/road arteries with Rockets / cannons and 250 lb bombs and one Hurricane IIC flown by Flt Lt JC Verma of No 6 Squadron IAF shot down a JAAF Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Oscar) flown by Cpl Tsuneo Nabeta of the 204th Sentai on 15.2.44 over Taung Bazaar (Bangladesh).
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